Mendl Mann’s autobiographical novel The Fall of Berlin tells the painful yet compelling story of life as a Jewish soldier in the Red Army. Menakhem Isaacovich is a Polish Jew who, after fleeing the Nazis, finds refuge in the USSR. The novel follows Menakhem as he fights on the front line in Stalin’s...

At the Gates of Moscow

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Cover of Bay di toyern fun Moskve [At the Gates of Moscow], New York: Alveltlekhn YidishnKultur-Kongres, 1956. October 1941. The Germans have occupied Poland and invaded the USSR. Menakhem Isaacovitch, a Polish Jew who fled the Nazis in 1940, is warmly welcomed by the villagers of Tengushay and is n...

Chapter Four

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Köngisberg was taken in early April. The huge German military concentration there was destroyed. Infantry Gen. Lösch and his general staff laid down their arms. The Soviets took 27,000 prisoners. A new tide of German civilians, wagons, and carts overran the roads of Prussia. White flags hung from th...

Chapter Eight

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

He heard steps in the rainy night. Menakhem was standing at the window. The panes were clouded over. The steps faded into the black of night. They would probably return. The pine trees cast scattered shadows. An oil lamp swayed in the big hall, its pale, yellow light falling on the children’s beds....

Introduction

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

A million and a half Jews fought in the armed forces of the Allies during the Second World War. They served in the armies, navies, and air forces of their native lands. Many who were forced to flee the Nazis then joined the war effort in the countries that had given them refuge. Between 490,000 and ...

Chapter Seven

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Anna closed the door quietly behind her. Her room had been ransacked. The bed was a mess. The window was open, the wind blowing through it. On her night table lay a half-written letter, some books left open, and an old illustrated magazine. Her white wardrobe was open. The cold air was pouring in. S...

Chapter One

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Cover of Dos faln un Berlin [The Fall of Berlin], New York: Tsiko Bikher Farlag, 1960. Towards the end of January 1945, two personal events deeply shook Dr. Anna Samuelovna Korina of the Red Army’s military hospital in the Praga district of Warsaw on the Vistula. They were sudden and so unexpected t...

Chapter Six

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

It was the first few days after taking Berlin. The wind carried the scent of springtime and of dead animals. There were corpses of half-skinned horses at the end of the street. There were the ruins of an airplane without wings. German women in colorful kerchiefs, red lips, and painted eyebrows sold...

Chapter Five

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Lev Oshanin had left Johanna Ostergard’s house the day after he blew up the armoured cars. Aerial bombing followed soon after, and the main part of the house was destroyed. In the chaos Oshanin fled through the ruined streets. He walked through the city with his military satchel, sure that he would...

Chapter Two

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

The Third Belorussian Front launched its offensive under the command of Marshal Vasilevsky in the first half of March. The purpose of the attack was to wipe out German positions in eastern Prussia and push to the Baltic Sea, to Pilau and to the Bay of Danzig. Twenty German divisions were stationed t...

At the Vistula

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Cover of Bay der vaysl [At the Vistula], Tel-Aviv: I. L. Peretz Bibliotek, 1958. Menakhem toils in the Urals for months, working in the grueling, nauseating coal mines, along Cossacks, Tatars, Kazakhs, Georgians, Ukrainians, and other Jews. The food is both meager and revolting. Dreams of Poland, Te...

Chapter Three

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Mendl Mann (22 avr. 2021)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Prussia, the end of March 1945. The train tracks and the terminals were crammed with cars from Belgium, Holland, France, along with those from München, Frankfurt, Karslruhe and Berlin. Train bridges and water towers had been blown up. Civilians wearing a dark square on their chest with the word “Eas...